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Phoenix Coldon, a junior at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has been missing since Dec. 18, 2011. Phoenix was last seen in the driveway of the family's home at about 3 p.m.

The Coldon family lost their life savings and their home because of a cruel hoax that led to a false lead in the disappearance of their daughter.

Please take a moment and let Phoenix's family know you care. Please CLICK HERE and read about the case of missing Phoenix Coldon

Lyle is different. Though he has none of Felix's adrenaline or Enid's single-mindedness, he is memorable. For in Lyle, Ms. Oates has given failure a habitation and a name. We feel the punishing sameness of his routines; we sit with him through the beers and shots that blur them for a few hours. His decline begins when a McCarthyite zealot denounces him as a Communist sympathizer because he keeps books in his shop and knows where the Soviet Union is. Lyle's morale never fully recovers from the police interrogation. And later, when a pretty client rejects his attentions, he all but collapses.

Of note, the character Lyle is not the one involved in an incestuous relationship (in fact he has no knowledge of it), nor does he actually kill himself in the book. However, he does contemplate hanging himself with a rope at least twice during the course of the novel.

Lyle takes solace in the fact that he has a basement in his store where he stores a length of rope behind a packing case. It's his "refuge" and his "sanctuary." He thinks of how people that know him see him as "a vigorous tireless ebuillient soul, a go-getter" but laments that "Lyle Stevick was otherwise, phony and tattered..." His desperate prayer, like that of Lear, was "O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!," and he was extremely worried about thermonuclear war, even going into debt in order to build a bomb shelter in the backyard for his family.

It's difficult to speculate upon why our Lyle might have associated himself with the literary Lyle, especially because Lyle Stevick was one of the more minor characters in the book. In fact he was a middle aged man and father of four. If our Lyle had identified with literary Lyle's half-brother Felix, we would have all kinds of titillating scenarios to wonder about. The only thing that really stood out to me is the underlying current of death throughout the novel. Other characters deal with an attempted suicide, an abortion, a presumed mafia-related murder, serious illness, and deadly and near-deadly accidents and beatings.

I have to wonder if our Lyle really identified with the book's Lyle Stevick, or if he had simply read the book recently and liked the name.

Lyle is different. Though he has none of Felix's adrenaline or Enid's single-mindedness, he is memorable. For in Lyle, Ms. Oates has given failure a habitation and a name. We feel the punishing sameness of his routines; we sit with him through the beers and shots that blur them for a few hours. His decline begins when a McCarthyite zealot denounces him as a Communist sympathizer because he keeps books in his shop and knows where the Soviet Union is. Lyle's morale never fully recovers from the police interrogation. And later, when a pretty client rejects his attentions, he all but collapses.

Of note, the character Lyle is not the one involved in an incestuous relationship (in fact he has no knowledge of it), nor does he actually kill himself in the book. However, he does contemplate hanging himself with a rope at least twice during the course of the novel.

Lyle takes solace in the fact that he has a basement in his store where he stores a length of rope behind a packing case. It's his "refuge" and his "sanctuary." He thinks of how people that know him see him as "a vigorous tireless ebuillient soul, a go-getter" but laments that "Lyle Stevick was otherwise, phony and tattered..." His desperate prayer, like that of Lear, was "O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!," and he was extremely worried about thermonuclear war, even going into debt in order to build a bomb shelter in the backyard for his family.

It's difficult to speculate upon why our Lyle might have associated himself with the literary Lyle, especially because Lyle Stevick was one of the more minor characters in the book. In fact he was a middle aged man and father of four. If our Lyle had identified with literary Lyle's half-brother Felix, we would have all kinds of titillating scenarios to wonder about. The only thing that really stood out to me is the underlying current of death throughout the novel. Other characters deal with an attempted suicide, an abortion, a presumed mafia-related murder, serious illness, and deadly and near-deadly accidents and beatings.

I have to wonder if our Lyle really identified with the book's Lyle Stevick, or if he had simply read the book recently and liked the name.

It's really hard to guess who he saw himself in because Lyle Stevik took all that with him when he died and we will never know that. I do like your theory that he could have seen himself in another character

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to outofthedark For This Useful Post:

This is just a speculation and my impression..I think our Lyle identified with the character Lyle perhaps on just one level...that on the outside both seem to be fine but on the inside each is deeply troubled, unhappy, suicidal....keeping a rope in the basement as an ''out'' should life become unbearable...I believe our Lyle could absolutely relate to that...What I find interesting is that the book (IMHO) is primarily read by women...no, I don't have statistics to prove this and it does sound stereotypical to say it, but I do have that sense of it....and men who do read it I would bet would be considered by their family and friends to be sensitive types...of course it is possible he never read the book and just heard about the character and identified with him...but somehow, I think he read the entire book. The books people read can be small clues to their personalities and characteristics...in our Lyle's case..it's one of the few clues he left behind.

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to grievousangel For This Useful Post:

Alot of people studying English, Fiction, or Literature read Joyce Carol Oates.. She has long been seen as one of America's best novelists. While I do agree that most recreational or enjoyment readers of Ms. Oates are probably women, our man may have been a student of the language?

Absolutely rayray!! I wonder if his picture has been distributed to Washington state (and surrounding states) universities, libraries, community or junior colleges? I keep thinking... who are the groups of ppl LEAST likely to see missing person fliers, unidentified people articles etc....we here are a group who search out and view these kinds of things...but I doubt if the general population does...still if you had a missing person in your family, I would think scouring these sites would be the plan of action .... getting his picture and story out to colleges, universities etc makes sense to me.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to grievousangel For This Useful Post:

Alot of people studying English, Fiction, or Literature read Joyce Carol Oates.. She has long been seen as one of America's best novelists. While I do agree that most recreational or enjoyment readers of Ms. Oates are probably women, our man may have been a student of the language?

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to outofthedark For This Useful Post:

I did a search awhile back for syllabi that focused on the novel on an earlier thread - I think I found places in FL & PA if I recall correctly (but I probably don't). I can't check back right now because my kiddo is driving me nuts - but I agree with the PPs that reading JCO novels is primarily a women thing. I love to read and I have enjoyed JCO's writing in the past but had a harder time getting through this book. I wouldn't have picked it out (and maybe wouldn't have finished it) if it weren't for our Lyle. It's quite possible that he read it for a class.

I think that if the unidentified man's fingerprints didn't come up with a match in both the US and Canada, I'm wondering if he might have been an immigrant (illegally or undocumented) from Europe or from another continent. If you haven't as of yet, perhaps you should check his fingerprints/DNA/dentals against any foreign missing persons

IMHO there are some differences with the eyebrows and the cheekbones, but a young man can mature a lot over a few years' span of time. To me, there are enough similarities to point law enforcement towards this. If you're wrong, it's only someone else they can rule out. If you're right. . . .